A group of YouTube Music contractors voted to join the Alphabet-Communications Workers of America (AWU-CWA)* union to form a union of Google workers.
Of the 49 workers eligible to vote, 41 voted in favor and eight abstained. As of last year, these workers had already been paying AWU-CWA dues but were seeking collective bargaining rights. In March, the group won a landmark legal victory when the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruled that Google must reach an agreement with them to ratify a union contract.
While Google has vowed to appeal the ruling, the outcome of today’s vote could have significant implications for the world’s largest company.
Assuming the NLRB’s ruling stands, Google will be required to negotiate with its U.S. workforce for the first time in its nearly 25-year history. The precedent could encourage other groups within the tech giant to unionize.
While the achievement is good news for all Google employees, it comes after the company laid off 12,000 workers — or about six percent of its global workforce — in late January. The company shared its first-quarter results this week, reporting net income of $15 billion. Google also announced a $70 billion stock buyback.